Media has important tole to play in taking our nation forward

Local television and print media these days appear to encourage confrontational politics. News items and TV programmes such as ‘Dawasa’, ‘Satana’, ‘Illakkaya’, ‘Sanvadaya’, ‘Wada Pitiya’ and others discuss political issues with media personnel playing a prominent role so much so that the average reader/viewer feels that these media establishments are ‘king-makers’.

The average Lankan expects these media establishments to be neutral and impartial only giving the ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ of an issue allowing the public to decide wisely. In one channel there is a segment called ‘Kiyana katha’ which gives a series of excerpts from statements made by politicians on various issues, one contradicting another.

The hot topics that have surfaced now are federalism and state religion with the Buddhist monks taking to the political platform.

Until the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka recently gave a landmark judgment on the validity of the action taken by the President we saw articles and TV programmes about the correct interpretation of the law- for and against.

With the political crisis created on October 26 last year, we saw how the state TV establishments changed their news policy.

In Sri Lanka, politics seems to be everything.

In most other countries such issues are highlighted mostly during election time and after, the victorious party is allowed to run its term in conformity with the Constitution and its mandate. This is not the case in Sri Lanka.

What this country needs after three decades of ethnic conflict is for both its people and politicians to seriously understand the problems facing the minorities (ethnic and religious) and their aspirations and future without further delay so that Sri Lanka could move forward as a united nation.

In the bold quest of uniting this nation, there is a very important role for both television and the press to play. P.H.D.H de Silva Nawala